Summer vacation? Lots of Americans say they can't afford it

Forget frequent-flier miles, last-minute getaways and even road trips. Nearly half of Americans say they won't be taking a vacation this summer, mostly because they can't afford it, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The new AP-NORC survey, conducted in May, said 43 per cent of Americans won't be taking a summer vacation. The top reason for skipping a trip was the cost, cited by 49 per cent of non-vacationers. Another 11 per cent said they can't take the time off from work, while three per cent said they don't like to be away from work.

About half of Americans living in households making less than $50,000 a year don't plan to take any summer vacation this year, and they're especially likely to cite costs as a reason.

And if your employer gives you paid vacation days, consider yourself lucky: Forty-one per cent of those surveyed who work full- or part-time said they do not get any paid time off from their employers to use for vacation. Younger and lower-income workers are especially likely not to get any paid time off.

Danny Aguilar of Lakewood, Colorado, says the cost is what stops him from planning a vacation. He works in information technology, but because he's self-employed, "the income is very unknown. You don't know what's going to happen. You never really know what's coming. You can't really budget."

Other findings from the poll:

- Most Americans use at least some of their paid time off if they have the option, but many still leave paid vacation days on the table. Fourteen per cent of workers who get paid vacation time from their jobs did not use any of the days they had coming to them. Just half of those with paid vacation time used up all or most of the days they were entitled to in the past year.

- Not everybody wants to go away in the summer. Fifteen per cent of those who are passing on a summer getaway say it's because they already took a vacation this year or because they'll travel some other time of year.

- Americans seem to value time over luxury when it comes to their vacations. Nearly two-thirds say they'd prefer to take a longer but less luxurious vacation over one that's shorter but more luxurious.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,022 adults was conducted May 10-14 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the United States population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods and later interviewed online or by phone.

- AP